Where's my purse?

Both kids, yes including Cole, have become acquainted with carrying a purse.  Now before you judge, let me explain.  

I lose everything.  I misplace everything.  9 times out of 10 I have no idea where my purse is unless I put it in the exact same place every time.  Im a creature of habit, cant help it.  (Note: This is also why I park on the same row at the grocery store every single time, if I dont Ill roam the parking lot for an hour looking for my car, true story, on more than one occasion)

Anyways, I will ask the kids "Wheres Mommy's purse?" and they go off and point when they find it.  Which brings me to my point.  I guess they got tired of looking for MY purse so they got their own.  Now, by the door, there are 3 purses.  Mine is sitting on the counter or table, its within a foot of each other so I can miss it.  They took over the door knobs.

Proof?

Here is Elyse's Purse, which is holding her keys.  (Wonder where she got that idea?)

And this is Cole's 'purse', which is holding his cup.

At least his is a monkey right?

Wordless Wednesday

Watch your garden grow

I envy people who have a green thumb.  I kill everything.  Bonsai, dead.  Flowers, dead.  Herbs, dead.  Ivy, dead.  Cactus (that I was told CANNOT be killed), dead.  You see my point.

When I started making my list, I thought about some things that would challenge me.  A garden?  Perfect.  If I can get something to bloom, and actually eat it, wow thats an accomplishment for me. 

I bought some seeds.

And planted them in starter soil (my term, not theirs)

Once they budded (Is that a word?), I moved them to the garden.

To my surprise, my seeds grew.

And a little while later, produced this,

And this

The garden is still growing, but I can proudly say I ate what I grew.

I used radishes in a salad, with some cilantro and lettuce that was also grown, and I grilled up some squash for dinner.

I say this is a success, and  my brown thumb is slowly turning green.

Wounded Warrior

So I just realized that I never did a race recap for my second half marathon.  Oops, so here it goes.

I decided to run the Wounded Warrior.  It was the right time, it supports the military and lets face it, the course was flat.  I was determined to beat my previous time from the Rock-N-Roll Half and I figured this was the place to do it.  Boy was I wrong.

Let me start from the beginning.

The night before, I was NOT hungry.  I forced myself to eat because I knew I had to eat.  I drank lots of water and set my clothes out for the next morning.  I dont function well at 430 in the morning and I didnt want to leave anything behind.

I laid down and prepared myself for sleep.  It didnt work too well.  My mind wouldnt stop and I ended up staring at the ceiling until 3AM.

At 430, my alarm went off.  I dressed in the dark, ran into the door, grabbed my breakfast, and stumbled to the car.  Im pretty sure I looked like I was taking the walk of shame in my running clothes.

I drove and met the people I was running with and found that my glove box was jammed.  My watch, my carrier, and my music was in there.  There was no way I would run with no music, I wont make it.  I rammed it open (it now wont close now) and grabbed my stuff.

Adrenaline was pumping, I want to get it over with, I was so tried.  Before the race, we snapped this picture, its the only one  I got from the entire day.

Im tired and groggy but Im ready to go. I find the pacer that I want to stay with and waiting for the race to start.  3....2...1, go and we were off.  I was good the first 2 miles, right on pace and I found my grove.  4 miles clocked in at 38 minutes, still on track.

6 miles, 59 minutes, yea I can do this. 

Then the heat came.  I was getting tired and my stomach was growling.  At mile 7, I ate a GU, at the same time I always do and fast walked to down some water.  Thats when it happened.  I came around the corner and my stomach flipped.  I ran to the bushes and puked.  It was not pretty.  I wiped my mouth, grabbed some more water and took off.  Thats when it went completely down hill.

My toes began to ache, they never ache at mile 8-9.  Then I felt my toenail, in the bottom of my sock.  Disgusting I know.  Thats when the liquid came.  Im was 100% positive my shoe just filled with blood.  This is when I said screw my time and I walked.  I just wanted the whole thing to be over.  I was NOT enjoying myself this run.  I blame the heat and the lack of sleep.

Around mile 11, the 2:20 pacer passed me.  Im not gonna lie, I was a little butt hurt.  I pushed down and fought myself to stay with her.  That lasted about 2 minutes.  I got cramps, I wanted to puke, my socks were soaked. She slowly distanced her self from me.

Thats what it dawned on me.  My time REALLY doesnt matter, I just wanna finish.  At that moment, the music gods shed mercy on my.  Sad but True by Metallica started to play.  I smiled and took off.  I finished, wet socks and all.

My primary goal was to beat my previous time of 2:25.  My seondary goal was to finish in 2:15.  Neither happend, I finished at 2:29:31, but I finished.

On another note, when I got home, my socks were not filled with blood.  Turns out I got a blister on TOP of my toe and it popped.  I got to figure this out before I attempt the full in December or my feet might fall off.

Im in desperate need of a pedicure, this running is killing my toes.

And thats the 'good' foot.

Sad but True.

Going Bonkers

There are rarely places where you can take 2 year olds where they will have a blast and not get trampled by bigger kids. They are just two tiny people ya know.

Anyway, thanks to my mom, we found Bonkers close to her house.  We thought why not.  Lets give it a try and see how the kids do.  If they hate it, were out $5, really only $5 for all 3 of us to get in.

Lets just say they LOVED it.  They stuck close to each other for the first few minutes, like they always do, then they took off in different directions always keeping an eye on each other, like they always do.  Heres what I could get before my camera died, like it always does.

Does anyone know hard it is to get 2 kids to look at the camera at the same time?  Im sure you do.

Elyse look here.

 Hello, over here.

Oh oh oh so close

 

Oh screw it, thats as close as its getting.

We then went to the 2 and under area for them to slide.  The almost love sliding as much as swinging, almost.

I think she might want to be in the circus one day, she walked this tightrope thing for about 20 minutes.

And of course I had to join in the fun.

And look at these two, so cute.

Hes not that much taller than her, hes on his tip toes.

I cant believe how big they are getting.

This place was awesome and we will defiantly be going back.

Wordless Wednesday

Cousins are like sisters

It is no secret that me and my sister did NOT get along growing up.  We still butt heads now, but weve moved pass the let-me-throw-you-in-the-trash-can-because-your-being-a-snot phase  (true story)  I have always wondered that if when we both had kids, if the kids would get along.

We all headed Canton last weekend and the girls were so sweet.  All the kids were in strollers and Cheyenne would yell "Mommy go to Elyse"  Danielle would push her closer and they would hold hands.  When one of us slowed down, one of the girls would  say speed up I want to hold you.  They would then get even and hold each othters hands again.  I guess they like each other.

*Note*
They are red because it was 100 degrees not from a sunburn.  When we got them in the AC and they returned to their natural paleness.

*Note*
Does Cole look like Gilligan?  He kept looking at the 2 of them holding hands and I can only imagine him thinking "Yall are crazy"

Lil Momma is at it again

I have mentioned before how Elyse loves to play with babies and her motherly instinct takes over.  If you remember this video  or this post, you know how she is with her babies. When I drop her off in the mornings, she runs to the baby bin, grabs a baby and walks it to the swing for nap time.  All day long she changes the diapers, feeds her, and covers her for nap time.  She kisses them good night and runs them (because she cant have just 1, she has to have them all in her procession) around the house in her stroller.

Well shes at it again.  While my dad was in town, she took full advantage of a baby being around.  Every time a jar was opened, Elyse came running around the corner yelling "Help feed baby, help feed"  She would then climb, literally, into my dads lap and grab the spoon from the bowl. 

She says AWWWWWW, eat baby.

Shes so sweet, smashing the food on his face because he wasnt eating fast enough.  When he was done, she would  say "All done baby, food all gone"

Food Coma

Have you ever eaten so much you pass out in mid-bite?

Cole has.

And hes still holding onto his food.

Wordless Wednesday

Her new accessory

Most of you know that noise is a great thing.  When kids get quite, you know there is trouble.  While Cole was eating, Elyse was running around shrieking like she always does.  Then it happened.  Silence.

Then like a bat out of hell she sprinted across the living room.  What was she into?

She found her way into the cabinets and pulled out my Giant Cupcake Mold.  She then decided to channel the Devo Whip-It Video and run around the house putting it on everyones head.

Im glad shes entertained so easily.

Here Fishy Fishy

What does one do when you have kids, little amount of money, and need to get out of the house? Well, you got to the Dallas Children's Aquarium of course.  Kids get in free and on Saturday its only $6 for adults.  So off we went.

I wasnt sure how well they would do.  This is the first time we have gone to something like this.  You know indoors, lots of people around and the kids wanting to run around everywhere.  Let me just say, they did great.  They loved every minute of it and ohhed and awwed at all the fish/sharks/alligators/stingrays/etc.

Heres how our day went.  It was hot, we were glad to be inside.

As we entered, the kids immediately wanted out of their strollers.  This was fine, its kid friendly, what harm can they do?  We made our way to the fish tanks and the kids were in a trance.

 

They kept saying "Look mommy, Look" "Fish" "WHOOOOOOOOA"

After the fishes, we walked over to see the turtle.  I didnt even have to tell them what it was.  Elyse promptly said "WHOAA tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurtle" and Cole goes "Urtle mommy urtle" as he pointed with excitement.

She ran to it and yelled in her high pitched voice "Turtle come here, I kiss you now" as she made a kissy face.  (Pause as my heart melts)

When it was time to move on, Cole waved and yelled "Bye bye urtle, mumble mumble later"

We moved on but not before I could get a picture of them both getting up close and personal with him.

Next was the alligators.  I have never seen her so excited. She started jumping in circles yelling "Alligator, alligator, alligator"  She immediately pressed her face against the glass.

He wanted nothing to do with it as he slowly crept further and further away from the tank.  (I had to laugh)

Next was the hermit crabs.  He made noise, she dove in. (Would you expect anything different?)

While being covered in fish smell, we went down to see the stingrays and sharks.  They loved it.

I couldnt think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Fish smell and all.